From Sunset To Sunrise
by textbooknarcissism
Summary: Pepper enters Tony's Malibu beach house to hear a piano being played, and discovers that Tony himself is playing it. Movieverse, One-Shot.


Pepper opened the door to Tony's Malibu beach front mansion carrying two pizzas in one hand, and a tray with a variety of drinks in the other. She shut the door with her heel, and dropped her keys on the floor due to lack of hand space. Dummy would retrieve them for her later.

"Tony?" She called out, kicking off her Jimmy Choos and walking down the hall to see if Tony was still in his bedroom from when she left. She turned into Tony's bedroom, expecting his grinning face to be laying on the bed covered in blueprints and paper, but he wasn't there. Pepper frowned and set the pizza down on the bed, and the tray of drinks on Tony's bedside table. As she checked his adjoining study, the faint sound of piano playing could be heard. _Tony put a CD on_, Pepper assumed.

She exited the bedroom and headed toward the sound of the piano, first going down to Tony's shop. Empty. Just to be sure Tony hadn't taken to working on one of his precious cars, she checked underneath the ones he had been working on lately. Still nothing. She put her hands on her hips and took in the sound of the beautiful, beautiful music.

"Jarvis, where is that music coming from?" Pepper asked the room.

"The piano, Miss Potts," Jarvis' voice answered her from all around.

Sounding puzzled, Pepper asked "Does Tony have it automated to play?"

"No, Miss Potts."

Pepper frowned and turned to tiptoe back upstairs, where the music became significantly louder. Reaching the top of the stairs, Pepper peeked around the corner of the wall to witness a very gentle looking Tony Stark sitting in front of the piano. Playing. Playing beautifully. Pepper gasped and leaned against the wall, listening to him play.

When the tune became softer, she stepped out from behind the wall and walked slowly toward Tony, looking at him with curiosity. He didn't look up from the piano as Pepper's presence became known; the song he played growing slower. It took only a moment for him to finish the song, and when he did, Tony simply but his hands in his lap and gave Pepper an easy smile.

"Oh, Tony," she breathed. "I didn't know you could play."

Tony grinned; "Just another one of my talents. I can also play guitar and I hear I'm great in bed."

Pepper smiled at him, and they just looked at each other for a minute. Tony patted the seat on the bench next to him; "I'll teach you a few notes, if you'd like," he said to her.

Pepper sat where he gestured, and she gave a little squeak as he lifted her onto his lap. Tony placed her hands on the piano keys. She didn't move a muscle as he put his hands on top of hers, and began to press their fingers on the keys. It was incredible. Pepper didn't recognize the tune, but knowing Tony it had to be something extremely classy.

"My mother," he murmured through the music, "She used to play piano with me all the time. Said if you could play the piano you could play any instrument. Not that she cared if I was musically inclined, I think the piano meant something more to her, just like it's meant to me ever since."

Pepper liked the connection they were sharing; it wasn't often Tony Stark opened his heart to you, nevermind sat down and played the piano with you. In fact, that _never_ happened, so Pepper made a mental note to remember it forever. They sat in silence, as Tony controlled the movements of their almost intertwined fingers to create the most beautiful sound Pepper had ever heard.

When the song ended, Pepper dropped her hands, and neither of them made an action to remove her from Tony's lap. Pepper twisted her head to see Tony's happy expression.

He grinned; "Wanna dance?"

Before Pepper could object, he snapped his fingers and said "Jarvis, continue on that please, only play something a little more Tchaikovsky."

"Of course, sir."

Tony pulled Pepper to her feet as the ever so familiar tune of Swan Lake began to play, except the way their bodies moved was not how anyone else would dance to Swan Lake. Tony held both Pepper's hand and hip; and moved them in a slow waltz.

"Tell me you don't think about that night," Tony said quietly.

"Oh, what night? The night where we danced and went up to the roof and you went down to get me a drink and you left me up there?"

"Uh-huh, that night."

"Yeah, I think about that night. Do you think about it?" Pepper asked him as he looked at her with a soft expression.

"Well, I'm thinking about it right now, actually."

"Mhmm, and?"

The music seemed to get quieter as Tony directed their dancing another way.

"And I think that I shouldn't have left you."

"Yeah, that would probably have been the right thing to do."

"But I can make up for it."

"And how are yo-"

Pepper was cut off by Tony pressing his lips against hers. Swan Lake ended, and there was complete silence in the room, as the assistant and her boss locked lips for what seemed like an eternity. When Pepper finally pulled away from him, Tony gave her his patented smile, and pulled her into a hug.

"Apology accepted," Pepper whispered into his ear, as Swan Lake began playing once more; right on cue.

...

**A/N: I was listening to "From Sunset To Sunrise" by Hiroyuki Sawano when I was writing this, so I know it's not very good, but that song is important to me, so it's importance comes along with this fic. It's a really beautiful piano composition :) **


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